Unprecedented steps to endorse political reform in Egypt were taken in 2025, most evident in the parliamentary elections and amending freedom-related laws and opening the door for further transformation.
Unlike the polls for the 2020-2025 parliament, swept by the pro-government parties of Mostaqbal Watan, People’s Republican, and Homat Watan, the 2025-2030 House of Representatives is expected to be different as a result of the 2025 polls.
In 2020, Mostaqbal Watan gained 315 seats in the House (53 per cent), and its coalition with the other two pro-government parties gave it a comfortable majority of 75 per cent. In 2025, however, Mostaqbal Watan’s majority is expected to be reduced.
Political analysts agree that the parliamentary polls, which kicked off on 7 November, were very different from those in 2020. Many millionaire businessmen ran in 2025, injecting political money into the elections.
Video recordings showing gross irregularities including rampant vote-buying in a number of individual districts shocked public opinion. There were also reports of candidates paying between LE50 and LE70 million to reserve seats on the Mostaqbal Watan-led National Unified List in order to win unopposed.
This led President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to intervene and to call on the National Election Authority (NEA), which is in charge of supervising the polls, to examine the alleged flaws and the appeals submitted. He urged the NEA to make decisions that reflect the true will of the voters and the need to enhance the transparency of the election process.
As a result, the NEA decided on 18 November that the results of the elections in individual seats in 19 districts, equivalent to 26 per cent, in the first round of the parliamentary elections should be annulled.
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC), authorised by the constitution to decide on appeals filed against election results, also took everyone by surprise on 30 November when it ordered that the results of the polls in 30 individual districts in the first round of the parliamentary elections also be annulled.
The SAC order brought the number of individual districts in which the results of the first round of the elections were invalidated to 49 out of a total of 70, or 64 per cent. The SAC also decided to refer 69 appeals to the Court of Cassation, which is constitutionally authorised to give the final say on appeals filed against candidates after they are declared the winners by the NEA.
In the second round of the parliamentary polls, which comprised 13 governorates, this too saw candidates filing 300 appeals against the results before the SAC. Out of these, the SAC decided to refer 40 appeals to the Court of Cassation.
Al-Ahram political analyst Amr Hashem Rabie believes that gross irregularities including bribery, the violation of campaigning rules, the selling of seats, and errors in vote tallying showed that “political money has reached unprecedented levels in influencing Egyptian politics.”
He explained that in 2020 when the last parliamentary elections were held the influence of political money was still quite modest, but “in 2025 it has become very influential, reflecting a kind of a marriage between money and business,” he said.
He added that Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli’s policy of expanding the scope of the participation of the private sector in the national economy over the past few years has created a growing appetite among multi-millionaire businessmen and investors for representation in parliament.
They hope to voice the interests of business within the political institutions in a bid to influence legislation, he said.
He believes that Al-Sisi’s intervention and the SAC and NEA orders to annul the elections in many districts have made it difficult for Mostaqbal Watan and its allied political parties to achieve a sweeping majority.
He criticised the NEA for only moving to annul the results of the elections in 19 individual districts in the first round of the polls after the intervention of President Al-Sisi.
According to Rabie, the parliamentary elections in 2025 showed that Egypt needs a new electoral system that can represent the people better. “We need an election system that can limit the influence of political money, vote and seat buying, and the manipulation of campaigning rules,” he said.
There is a need for a competitive electoral system, he said, and one that does not lead to a single option, such as the so-called closed party list system, which he said was constitutionally and morally flawed.
“Egypt needs an electoral system that can form parliaments like beehives working for the benefit of all classes around the clock and that never stop supervising the government and examining legislation to make sure it serves society and the public interest,” he said.
HUMAN RIGHTS: Egypt’s political life also saw developments in the area of human rights in 2025, the most notable of which was President Al-Sisi’s decision to release the 43-year-old political activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah.
Al-Sisi’s pardon, which included another five political activists, came in response to an appeal from the National Human Rights Council (NHRC).
Tarek Al-Awadi, a lawyer and a member of the Presidential Pardon Committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly that Al-Sisi’s pardon for Abdel-Fattah and other prisoners was a significant moment in the area of human rights in Egypt in 2025.
“The jailing of Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who also holds British nationality, gave the opportunity for many Western human-rights organisations to target Egypt and to portray the situation of human rights in the country in a negative way, and it was important for Al-Sisi’s decision to change this image for the better,” Al-Awadi said.
He noted that the pardoning of Abdel-Fattah had reflected a humanitarian dimension and sent a positive message confirming the state’s willingness to uphold the value of tolerance.
On 20 December, Prosecutor General Mohamed Shawki lifted a travel ban on Abdel-Fattah, following a request from his behalf.
Al-Awadi believes that 2025 saw a mixed picture for political prisoners in Egypt, with notable individual releases occurring alongside government crackdowns on dissent.
Negad Al-Borai, a prominent lawyer, said Egypt had seen two major developments in the area of human rights in 2025. The first was President Al-Sisi’s referral of the Criminal Procedures Law to the House of Representatives to be amended to expand the scope of human rights, and the second was the pardoning of a number of convicts, including Abdel-Fattah, he said.
He hoped that the pardoning of Abdel-Fattah would be followed by issuing pardons for other political activists, especially those who have demonstrated for Palestine.
Press Syndicate Chairman Khaled Al-Balshi regretted that several journalists remain in jail for demonstrating in support of the Palestinian cause. “President Al-Sisi’s decision to pardon Abdel-Fattah deserves praise, but we hoped that it would be followed by releasing all journalists detained for demonstrating in support of the Palestinians in Gaza,” Al-Balshi said.
He said he hoped that “2026 will see the lifting of the ban on certain websites and the abolition of prison sentences for publication offences, in accordance with Articles 68 and 71 of the constitution.”
According to NHRC Spokesman Ezzat Ibrahim, Al-Sisi’s decision to pardon Abdel-Fattah and other prisoners, in addition to returning the Criminal Procedures Law to the House of Representatives to be amended to expand alternatives to pre-trial detentions, reflects a growing commitment to conducting a comprehensive review of rights and freedoms in Egypt.
In parliament in October and upon a request from President Al-Sisi, MPs approved sweeping changes to the 75-year-old Criminal Procedures Law, notably to articles 113, 114, and 123 related to regulating pretrial detention.
Essam Shiha, head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, a NGO, told the Weekly that President Al-Sisi’s intervention had led parliament to introduce significant amendments to the Criminal Procedures Law.
“The amended law, which was ratified by Al-Sisi in November, now reinforces the constitutional protection of private homes and clarifies the exception circumstances under which they can be searched by the police,” said Shiha, adding that “it also regulates the presence of lawyers during the interrogation of a suspect whose life is feared to be in danger and increases guarantees for those detained pending interrogation.”
In a significant change, the number of alternatives to pre-trial detention has been increased from three to seven, he said. Instead of jailing a defendant, the law now includes other options of confining the defendant to a specific geographical area, prohibiting contact with certain individuals, and the temporary confiscation of firearms.
The new law also requires that cases involving pre-trial detention be presented to the prosecutor-general every three months instead of every month for review to ensure the completion of the investigation.
“All of these are important additions to guarantees for the protection of human rights, and they will reduce the use of pre-trial detention and will speed up investigations and trial procedures while ensuring a fair trial,” he concluded.
The new Criminal Procedures Law will come into effect on 1 October 2026, the start of the next judicial year, to allow judges, prosecutors, police officers, and lawyers to familiarise themselves with its provisions.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 25 December, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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